—I—
Despite the furious rage roiling inside, I took back control of my body and diverted my arrow, though the bolt that shot forth from my bow was closer to a light beam surging with magic force. It glided off Rhora, then completely wrecked the wall it struck.
As the explosion reverberated through the darkness, Rhora raised her cruel claws and unfurled her cape to abduct Éa. Nobody except for me had seen her. They hadn’t even reacted to her presence. I sprinted, leaped, then slammed my bow down on her talons.
I thought I saw Rhora smile. She slashed at both my shoulders, slicing through my knife-proof poncho as if it were tissue paper. Blood spurted violently from my wounds. But I’d managed to cover Éa. Rhora left gashes in my back as parting gifts. It felt more hot than painful. I gasped for air. The taste of iron filled my mouth.
“Yaya!”
“……It’s here,” Pops whispered.
I did it. I saved her—my sister was safe in my arms.
“Souya! Where the hell did you get those wounds?!” Shuna shouted in surprise, shocking the others as well. It must have looked like I started gushing blood out of nowhere to them. I’d forgotten one vital fact—that we were hunting a foe inescapably tied to Lümidia. Overpowered by her rage and obsession, I had come this close to shooting my own sister.
“Lis, if you would.”
“Fine.”
My full body weight still rested on Éa. The gashes must have been deep; her face heavy with worry, my elven sister stroked my hair.
“O light, gather to me and heal, I pray, I implore by my—name.”
“Urgh!” While not as severe as what I’d experienced under Lana’s care, searing heat and pain spread throughout my body. It felt like someone was manipulating the flesh around my wounds. And yet—
“All healed.”
—the pain instantly lifted. Leaning on my sister’s shoulder, I stood up, my poncho and camo fatigues obviously still in tatters.
“Lis, was it? What classification of magic do you use?” Freyja asked. “I’ve never seen something heal so quickly. It’s positively inhuman.”
“Heh, nothing a mere mortal could understand.”
“Come again?” Lis and Freyja turned against each other, ready to fight.
An uneasy anxiety and strange emptiness hit me at once. Pops stood eerily silent.
………Huh?
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding,” I spat, then turned to look at each of my party members: Éa, Shuna, Lis, Freyja, Lazalisa, Gaslark, Pops. “Lana?”
She was gone.
““What?”” Everyone but Pops stared at one another in disbelief. I didn’t blame them. Lana, who’d been with us just a second ago, had vanished in the blink of an eye. If I hadn’t forced myself to consider the possibility ahead of time, I probably would’ve floundered, not knowing what to do next. I shook Éa off and stood on my own two feet.
“Yukikaze, you’re following the tracer, right?”
“Yes. I apologize, Squad Member Souya. My system malfunctioned and failed to detect irregularities in Mistress Lana’s movements.”
Lana’s location appeared on my glasses. She was moving—fast. There was already a full hundred meters between us.
“Souya, wait.” Our fearless guide stopped me before I could run off. “You saw it, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Go. But leave any item infused with magic here—including your ryvius.”
“What? Medîm, what are you saying?” Éa protested.
“My gut tells me that thing can somehow detect magic,” Pops explained. “Listen to me, Souya. You are to find it and tell me where it is. By now, you should be painfully aware that it is not an enemy you can defeat. Do not engage; just tell me where to go. Put those Otherworldly skills and your Wise Eyes to use and spot that damned ghost that’s eluded so many adventurers for thirty long years.”
“No, no, wait, Medîm! Yaya will be defenseless without his sword!”
“Don’t worry. We’re going to draw every last one of those bastards to us.”
Far off in the distance, I could hear something shuffling toward us—all the saplings answering the call of Lümidia’s blast. Pops pulled out another odd tool; it looked like a mini rocket launcher with a trigger.
“I’ve got illegal gunpowder loaded in here. Once I pull this trigger, it’ll unleash an explosive blast that will call all the saplings in the dungeon home for dinner. This will put every one of us at great risk. Sorry, but prepare yourselves. I’ll make amends however you’d like—if we survive this.”
I hadn’t waited for Pops to finish to start readying to leave. Pulling out the needle the Dark Lord gave me, I unlocked and removed Heuress’s Gauntlet. Leaving it behind meant I’d lose the connection to Lümidia, too, but I didn’t give a shit about whatever yearslong feud she had with Rhora. From around my neck, I removed my ryvius vials and the coral necklace Ghett had given me, then unslung my quiver and placed it on the ground next to my lycan bow. Taking Agaccion in hand, I thrust it into the ground.
“Agaccion, protect my party—not me,” I commanded the enchanted blade. Its powers were more useful for them here.
Lana’s position kept moving. She’d now covered about six hundred meters.
“Yaya, take mine.”
“No. You’re definitely gonna wanna have that,” I said, prodding her with the compound bow she’d offered. She’d need it in a melee to take down those Mouths. “Plus, I’ll make less noise the less I have on me. Don’t worry, Éa. I’ll save Lana—I promise.”
“I know, but! But…… Sorry, never mind.” She swallowed whatever she’d been about to say. She was a good sister—too good for me.
“We can handle things here, Souya.”
“Thanks, Shuna.” No lengthy good-byes for us. Friendships between men are all about action, not words.
“Get ready,” Pops warned. “Open your mouths and cover your ears.”
He pulled the trigger. The resulting explosion echoed loudly through the dungeon. I’d plugged my ears, but even then, the blast was so intense it hit me like a knockout punch and made my head spin. The brief, silent pause that followed was soon broken by racing footsteps and hair-raising shrieks coming from down the tunnel. A wave of ghastly white wraiths rushed at us.
“By the Gastolfo name, I hereby command thee,” Freyja began to chant as she shoved her staff in the ground. “Heed my call and honor my blood. Bring me a miracle short of thy divine works, O Leteugan of the Frosty Winds, Li Bau the Death Shade. Do as I bid and steal these lives away.”
She brought her palms together, then opened them to reveal a sphere of white mist. “Behold this breath, the harbinger of death. O life-draining soul, bespatter and scatter. Hoense Romea Las Neomia.” Freyja blew on the sphere; it swirled together with her breath, sending a white, devastating gas to lap up every corner of the corridor. Instantly, thirty saplings froze to the core. “Lazalisa, destroy them.”
“Yes, milady.” The loyal beastmaid leaned forward. Using her extra extended tail as a third leg, she propelled herself forward to tackle the frozen saplings, shattering them into a million pieces.
The path opened up.
Smiling warmly like a true goddess, Freyja said to me, “Go, Souya. I have every faith you will rescue my dear friend. No less would I expect from the man I named a Champion of Light.”